Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and Bullying Advice - Teresa Bliss, Educational Psychologist - YouTube

As an educational psychologist, Teresa works with children and adults who struggle to function in school or at work.

Particular areas of expertise include behaviour, dyslexia, dyspraxia, autism and how schools can combat bullying.

If you need advice on anything covered in this video, you can contact Teresa via Greatvine

It’s difficult socially when you have to live with dyslexia, dyspraxia, and bullying. It makes it more difficult to learn and to be around other people at times.

Measuring Intelligence: Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) is a test designed to measure intelligence in adults and older adolescents. It is currently in its fourth edition (WAIS-IV).

The original WAIS (Form I) was published in February 1955 by David Wechsler, as a revision of the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale.

The fourth edition of the test (WAIS-IV) was released in 2008 by Pearson.

The Wechsler-Bellevue tests were innovative in the 1930s because they gathered tasks created for nonclinical purposes for administration as a "clinical test battery".

Because the Wechsler tests included non-verbal items (known as performance scales) as well as verbal items for all test-takers, and because the 1960 form of Lewis Terman's Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales was less carefully developed than previous versions, Form I of the WAIS surpassed the Stanford-Binet tests in popularity by the 1960s.

Wechsler defined intelligence as "... the global capacity of a person to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his environment."

Dyspraxia and Motor Skills: Interactive Video Games Help to Sharpen

Mothers tell their children not to play video games because they believe that the games have a major impact on the child's brain, but now researchers have found that interactive video games improve motor skills among preschool children.

Researchers from Deakin University and the University of Wollongong have found that pre-schoolers who play interactive video games have better motor skills. The discovery was made while studying the link between electronic games and children's fundamental movement skills.

During the study, researchers monitored the physical activity levels and movement skills of 53 children aged between three and six years. Then they asked the children's parents to provide a report of the time spent playing interactive games such as Nintendo Wii/Eyetoy and non-interactive electronic games such as Nintendo DS/ Gameboy in a typical week.

Among the 53 preschool students, 35 per cent played non-interactive electronic games while the other 23 per cent played interactive games.

The study found that children who spent more time playing interactive electronic games were more competent in object control skills, such as kicking, catching, rolling, and bouncing a ball, but there was no association with locomotor skills such as hopping, jumping, running.

The findings have been published in the journal Perceptual and Motor Skills.

"While we found that greater time spent playing interactive electronic games is associated with higher object control skills in these young children, we cannot say why," said Dr Lisa Barnett, researcher at the Deakin University's School of Health and Social Development.

Dr Lisa Barnett claims that interactive game players have higher object control skills because the games help develop these types of skills. Playing interactive electronic games may also help eye-hand coordination.

Previously, researchers had found that children with better fundamental movement skills became more active adolescents compared to children who have poorer movement skills.

"What our findings do point to is a need to investigate further to determine if playing these games improves object control skills or if children with greater object control skill proficiency prefer and play these games," Dr Barnett said.

Conclusions: If the relationship between object control skill and physical activity is viewed as a ‘‘positive feedback loop,’’ skill development and increasing physical activity should simultaneously be targeted in physical activity interventions. Increasing perceived sport competence should also be an intervention focus.

View the paper here

Maths anxiety: the numbers are mounting

Maths anxiety, a feeling of fear about maths, is believed to affect about a quarter of the population, which would equate to more than 2 million schoolchildren in England alone, along with thousands of teachers.

Many of us are familiar with that blind panic when faced with a maths problem we can't fathom, but maths anxiety isn't always recognised or understood.

Maths anxiety was first identified in the 1950s, but the devastating way it affects performance is only now becoming evident.

For the first time, researchers at Stanford University in the US have used scans to see what goes on inside the brains of children with maths anxiety, and discovered that they respond to sums in the same way that people with phobias might react to snakes or spiders, showing increased activity in the fear centres.

This in turn causes a decrease in activity in the problem-solving areas, making it harder to come up with the right answers.

Dr Vinod Menon, the professor who led the project, explains its significance: "Our research is important because it is the first to identify the neural and developmental basis of maths anxiety, and our findings have significant implications for its early identification and treatment.

It is also important because it shows that math anxiety in children is real. It cannot be wished away. It needs to be attended to and treated if it persists."

If maths anxiety has such a devastating effect on ability, why aren't we doing more about it? Most teachers and academics know it exists, but there are no formally established diagnostic tools to determine when worrying about maths becomes "maths anxiety".

What's more, it can be counterproductive to tell a child that they have a problem, as Mike Ellicock, chief executive of the charity National Numeracy, explains: "Labelling and categorising children into those who can and can't do maths isn't helpful.

There's nothing more certain to be a self-fulfilling prophecy … but given encouragement and the right support, everyone can meet a functional level of numeracy."

We clearly haven't been offering the right support, as almost half of the UK's adults are only capable of basic maths. It doesn't help that we often see maths as the preserve of a few geeks.

Maths is a clear-cut subject where answers are either right or wrong, and teaching methods focusing on quick recall, mental arithmetic and on answers given in front of the class are unhelpful to those who are less confident.

Most teachers understand that confidence is as important as competence when it comes to maths achievement, but Peter Lacey, of the Association of Teachers of Mathematics, says they are often constrained by a system focused on targets and attainment levels.

"If you say slow down, ministers get concerned, but if you want to build a tall and secure house, you make sure your foundations are right. Sometimes there's a rush in the earlier years of teaching that interferes with children gaining real confidence, once it goes wrong at that stage, everything afterwards is insecure.

The pressure to get children to a particular level in tests at 11 can mean teaching them tricks to get good outcomes rather than making sure they are confident in their understanding."

Experts in the field, such as Professor David Sheffield of Derby University's Centre for Psychological Research, who is one of the country's leading specialists in maths anxiety, believe it has a lifelong effect.

So what would he advise? "The first thing to say is don't do more maths. More maths is unlikely to work because it's actually an anxiety problem. Try to deal with the anxiety with simple approaches like relaxation or breathing exercises. We did one study where we got people to do a relaxation exercise and then followed them up. Their anxiety scores had dropped and they were able to solve more problems."

Children with Dyspraxia have problem with coordination and movement, so it is important when they have a problem like tying shoe laces or even playing sport is to keep practicing until they get it right.

Clearly, this seem simple but it is also important not to stress the child, these children will get easily stressed and its important to make it a game and not to show any failure, so its important to approach any activities is little stress as possible and there is no failure but fun.

You might say this is easier said than done. If a child has difficult learning to tye shoe laces, you simply get them to learn little put often and give them a reward to learning so there is reason for their success.
Simple techniques:-

• Little but often
• Make it fun
• Goal for achieve at the end of each session of trying
• Goal for achievement when they reach the end goal
• Make it fun (don't make it stressful, if the child starts to get stressed stop and do something completely different)

For more information go to the Dyspraxia Advice website

Skills Rocket: Reading Software - YouTube

Learn about the up-to-date software you can access on today's market to help you with reading.

Skills Rocket is a FREE e-learning website developed by Chartered Occupational Psychologist Nicola James.

Access a range of extra hints and tips for Adults with Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia, AD(H)D and other Neuro Differences to help improve your reading skills. Simply register for free and watch your Skills Rocket!

Children’s School Absenteeism Linked to Mental disorder

Being absent and missing out on class can be hard on children as they get to miss out on valuable lectures.

This can often times lead to poorer performances, and worse, can lead to ridicule from peers but the reason behind children's absenteeism may be far more problematic than missing out on class as new research finds it may be linked to their mental health.

Students who are frequently absent from school are more likely to have symptoms of psychiatric disorders, according to Jeffery Wood, associaten professor of educational psychology and psychiatry at University of California, Los Angeles, who led the study.

In the study, researchers looked at more than 17,000 children in 1st through 12th grades and found that between grades 2 and 8, students who already had mental health symptoms missed more school days over the course of a year than they had in the previous year and than students with few or no mental health symptoms.

These frequent absents, researchers said, is linked with a higher prevalence of mental health problems later on when they reach adolescence.

Findings al show that middle and high school students who were chronically absent in an earlier year of the study tended to have more depression and antisocial problems in subsequent years, leading to missing additional school days in the following years.

Wood noted that their findings may aid others in helping students address mental health issues that in turn, prevent the emergence of chronic absenteeism.

And indeed, mental illness among children must be addressed soon. This is because the problem has become so common that about 20% of American children suffer from a diagnosable mental illness, and that around 5 million American children and adolescents suffer from a serious mental illness, according to MedicineNet.com.

The most common among the mental illnesses in children are anxiety disorders, disruptive behavior disorders, eating disorders, learning and communication disorders, and even schizophrenia.

But in order to successfully deal with a mental illness, a person must be able to identify when a child is suffering from them. Though symptoms may vary from one mental illness to another, some symptoms that generally appear when a child has a mental disorder are:

- Inability to cope with daily problems and activities

- Changes in sleeping and eating habits

- Defying authority, skipping school, stealing, or damaging property

- Frequent outbursts of anger

- Long-lasting negative moods

- Changes in school performance, such as getting poor grades

- Loss of interest in friends and activities they usually enjoy

Beating Dyslexia Through Music

Musical skills may translate into reading skills — particularly for children with dyslexia. Research published by Martina Huss, Usha Goswami, and colleagues in Cortex indicates that musical games may be useful in treating dyslexia in young children because an inability to distinguish between strong and weak “beats” is closely related to dyslexia.

Huss and Goswami asked 10-year-old children to listen to pairs of simple songs in which certain notes were accented. To make the songs different, the scientists changed the length of the accented notes.

Non-dyslexic children were able to distinguish between identical and non-identical song pairs by perceiving “rise time,” which is the time it took for notes to reach peak intensity. Dyslexic children had more difficulty using rise time to distinguish between tunes.

According to the research team, these results show that the ability to perceive the pattern of beats in music and the ability to read are closely linked. Early interventions based on music may allow children to perceive the sounds of language more efficiently, leading to greater success when they learn to read.

Non-dyslexic children may benefit from music training too: Research published by Sylvian Moreno in the October issue of Psychological Science shows that preschoolers can improve their verbal intelligence after 20 days of music-based cognitive training cartoons.

References and Further Reading:

Huss, M., Verney, J. P., Fosker, T., Mead, N., & Goswami, U. (2011). Music, rhythm, rise time perception and developmental

Dyspraxia: What is it? - Dyspraxia Foundation

Click on the image to go to the Dyspraxia Foundation website

Move 627: Transition - Supporting Children and Parents through life's changes

What is transition?
One definition of transition is a passage from one form, state, style, or place to another.

In the context of the young person moving from primary to secondary school he or she is not only moving place, going from primary to secondary school, but is also moving from a stage of childhood to adolescence.

He or she is passing through puberty and is undergoing major emotional and physical changes.
Read more…

The four phases of transition
The four phases of transition are

• Preparation, 
• Induction, 
• Transfer and 
• Consolidation 

Read more…

Key changes in the child
Key changes in the young person's life include pubertal changes such as physical growth and emotional upheaval.

In addition to this, changes in the brain itself have more recently been noted, specifically in one area known as the prefrontal cortex, which sits just behind the forehead.

It has been called the “CEO of the brain”, and has a major role in controlling planning, working memory, organisation, and modulating mood and impulsivity.

As the prefrontal cortex matures, adolescents are able to make more reasoned decisions and start to gain more control over their impulses. They are able to plan and determine their actions.
Read more…

This site - what it can do for you
Move 627 contains a wealth of information which may help parents, schools and health professionals to better support young people during the transition from primary to secondary school.

The site may be particularly useful to young people with ADHD and other developmental disorders. Move627 contains downloadable information, adaptable downloads and fun, interactive games. These may all help:
Read more…

To learn more about supporting parents and children with Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, DCD, ADHD, etc., be sure to visit the website of Move627 and their sister sites: Box of Ideas and www.dyscovery.info

The websites are supported by Prof. Amanda Kirby: A registered Medical Practitioner who specialises in Community Paediatrics and Psychiatry. Prof Kirby has particular interest in Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and DCD and is currently the patron of the Dyspraxia Association in New Zealand and medical advisor to the Dyspraxia Foundation in the UK and Ireland.

She is also a medical advisor to a developmental disorders clinic in Singapore, the UK Neurofibromatosis Association and is on the Royal College of General Practitioners Learning Disability Working Party.

A Box of Many Ideas: Parents' Support Website for Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and DCD

The one stop shop for 1000s of ideas, guidance and information for parents of children who suffer from Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and /or DCD. 

The website boast that it provides guidance on everything from early years to employment. Click on the pictures to visit the website or follow the links below.

Practical skills and information for parents concerning Education, schools and employment

Practical skills that parents and carers can use at home or outside school time. 

Move 627 is a website that examines the transitional stages that children go through in their lives, offering information and support.

To learn more about supporting parents and children with Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, DCD, ADHD, etc., be sure to visit the website of Move627 and their sister site: www.dyscovery.co.uk

The websites are supported by Prof. Amanda Kirby: A registered Medical Practitioner who specialises in Community Paediatrics and Psychiatry. Prof Kirby has particular interest in Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and DCD and is currently the patron of the Dyspraxia Association in New Zealand and medical advisor to the Dyspraxia Foundation in the UK and Ireland.

She is also a medical advisor to a developmental disorders clinic in Singapore, the UK Neurofibromatosis Association and is on the Royal College of General Practitioners Learning Disability Working Party.

The DysCovery Centre: Prof Amanda Kirby

The Dyscovery Centre  was set up over 13 years ago in response to a lack of co-ordination between health and education providing services for children and adults with developmental disorders.

During this time it has developed into a specialist and high quality service providing clinical services, undertaking research,providing consultancy services and training at all levels from awareness raising  courses to Masters degree level.

The inter-disciplinary team helps individuals with living and learning difficulties, such as Developmental Co-ordination Disorder, Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Asperger's Syndrome.

The team is led by Professor Amanda Kirby.All members of the clinical team are State Registered, qualified, experienced in learning difficulties, and adhere to professional standards and Codes of Practice.

The clinical team helps people of all ages, and takes referrals from statutory and voluntary bodies as well as directly from individuals.

The benefits of using the Dyscovery Centre include:

• Assessment by appropriate team members after consultation and information gathering, tailored to the individual.
• One-stop shop: Providing a co-ordinated approach in one place and time.
• Active research centre- up to date with latest research in the field of developmental disorders.
• Professionals who have experience working with schools, parents and adults.
• Ability to look at whole child/person. 
• Access to specialised resources and supporting information. 

The Dyscovery Centre has now moved to its permanent home on the Caerleon Campus. 

Their new address is, The Dyscovery Centre, Felthorpe House, Caerleon Campus, Lodge Road, Caerleon, Newport, NP18 3QR. 

Their telephone number has remained the same: 01633 432330
Their email address is: Amanda.kirby@newport.ac.uk
Website: www.dyscovery.org

 

Introducing: Amanda Kirby - Understand the difference

Professor Amanda Kirby MBBS MRCGP PhD

Professor Kirby founded The Dyscovery Centre in Cardiff in 1997.

Since that time The Centre has become internationally recognised for its work in Developmental Co-ordination Disorder (DCD) and related specific learning difficulties.

In 2006, the Dyscovery Centre became part of the School of Education at the University of Wales, Newport. In April 2007 Amanda gained a Chair in Developmental Disorders in Education at the University.

Amanda previously worked as a General Practitioner and has worked in Community Paediatrics and Psychiatry.

She has many books published in the field of specific learning difficulties, and has published Mapping SEN – a CD-based programme for schools - and '100 Ideas for Supporting Pupils with Dyspraxia and DCD' as well as academic texts.

She is very interested in the ability to transfer evidence-based research into everyday practice and has recently developed several different websites including www.adhdtraining.co.uk, www.boxofideas.org and www.spldtransitions.co.uk.

Amanda is currently the patron of the Dyspraxia Association in New Zealand and medical advisor to the Dyspraxia Foundation in the UK and Ireland.

She is also a medical advisor to a developmental disorders clinic in Singapore, the UK Neurofibromatosis Association and is on the Royal College of General Practitioners Learning Disability Working Party.

She also works with the Welsh Assembly on specific projects including a benchmarking exercise on Dyslexia and specific learning difficulties provision.

She has provided consultancy to the RAF and Football Association.

Amanda has both a professional and personal interest in DCD (Dyspraxia) and related specific learning difficulties as her middle child, her 25-year old son, has co-ordination and some attentional difficulties, and trying to address his difficulties and finding answers to problems first sparked her interest in the area.

Her research interests include the effects of nutrition on learning and behaviour, outcomes for students in further and higher education with Dyspraxia and DCD, and executive functioning in school and college students.

Recent work has continued to look at the effect of specific learning difficulties in gaining employment.

Check her for a comprehensive presentation on Supporting Learning Difficulties in Adulthood by Prof. Kirby: this presentation was given at the Understand the Difference conf. 2011

Contact Details: Amanda.kirby@newport.ac.uk - www.dyscovery.org 

The Definition of 'Learning Disability' differs in US and UK

In the United States and Canada, the term learning disability is used to refer to psychological and neurological conditions that affect a person's communicative capacities and potential to be taught effectively.

The term includes such conditions as dysgraphia (writing disorder), dyslexia (reading disorder), dyscalculia (mathematics disorder) and developmental aphasia.In the United Kingdom, the term learning disability is used more generally to refer to developmental disability.

Someone with a learning disability does not necessarily have low or high intelligence, nor any innate inability to learn.

It just means this individual has an impairment to their ability due to a processing disorder, such as auditory processing or visual processing, that is detrimental to learning from traditional teaching methods.

Learning disabilities are usually identified by school psychologists through testing of intelligence, academics and processes of learning.

For more information about the topic Learning disability, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:

Mental retardation — Mental retardation is a term for a pattern of persistently slow learning of basic motor and language skills ("milestones") during childhood, and a ...  > read more

Dyslexia — Developmental dyslexia is a condition or learning disability which causes difficulty with reading and writing. Its standard definition is a ...  > read more

Special education — Special education, describes an educational alternative that focuses on the teaching of students with academic, behavioral, health, or physical needs ...  > read more

Brain damage — Brain damage or brain injury is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. Brain damage may occur due to a wide range of conditions, illnesses, ...  > read more

Non-Verbal learning disorder (NLD or NVLD)

A nonverbal learning disorder or nonverbal learning disability (NLD or NVLD) is a condition characterized by a significant discrepancy between higher verbal and lower motor, visuo-spatial, and social skills on an IQ test. Some proponents of the category believe that this discrepancy is attributable to dysfunction in the right cerebral hemisphere.


NLD involves deficits in perception, coordination, socialisation, non-verbal problem-solving and understanding of humour, along with well-developed rote memory. As most people with Asperger syndrome (AS) fit the criteria for NLD, a diagnosis of AS is often preferred.


In this instance, some researchers assert that an AS diagnosis is more clinically useful than an NLD diagnosis, and argue that NLD would be an example of excessive diagnostic splitting. However, NLD can also occur with other disorders. However, like Asperger syndrome, NLD exists on a spectrum, and those affected can experience it in a range of ways.


Those with an NLD diagnosis can experience some or all of the symptoms, and to varying degrees. Ongoing debate surrounds the relationship between Asperger syndrome and NLD, as research on the condition is ongoing and procedures can differ from AS research.

Symptoms

Non-verbal communication

People with this disability may misunderstand non-verbal communications, or they may understand the communications but be unable to formulate an appropriate response. This can make establishing and maintaining social contacts difficult.


Eye contact can also be difficult for people with NLD, either because they are uncomfortable with maintaining it or because they do not remember that others expect it. Similarly, knowing when and how to use physical contact and recognizing emotions in others and expressing them for oneself can be problematic.

Verbal communication

People with NLD will often tend to lapse into "cocktail-speech," talking too much and too quickly. People with NLD have strong verbal communication skills and must often rely on verbal communication as their main method of gathering information.

Trying to process too many non-verbal stimuli can confuse them.

People with NLD often have strong verbal skills, and learn how to use those to compensate.

Numerical and spatial awareness

Arithmetic and mathematics can be very difficult for people with NLD, and they often have problems with spatial awareness. Problematic areas may include:

• Recognising faces
• Paying attention in noisy environments
• Navigation
• In mathematics: the confusion of X-axis and Y-axis
• Remembering the names and locations of places
• Map reading, or plotting or remembering routes. People with NLD are often best-served by giving landmarks along with repeated directions.
• Estimating the speed of cars while crossing the road
• Self-awareness of where their body is(frequently bump into other people and objects)
• Backing out a car

Motor

People with NLD often have motor difficulties. This can manifest in their walking and running, which are sometimes stiff, or in difficulty balancing. They may also be more likely to run into things, due to judging distances poorly.

Fine motor skills can also develop abnormally, causing difficulty with writing, drawing, and tying shoelaces. NLD sufferers are often labeled as "clumsy" or "stiff".

Anxiety

People with NLD, more than many others, fear failure. They may feel that they have to do too much at once, and then do not know where to start. This allows them to stagnate, and then do nothing. Sometimes they try to multitask and again end up doing nothing, which can lead to frustration.

They may experience the world around them as a chaos, the actions that they must perform well and quickly creating a sense of helplessness.


Clumsiness in performing tasks may be criticised by teachers or in the workplace, causing further fear of failure.

There is a high incidence of suicide in the NLD population.

The mysterious world of dyspraxia

Most of us have heard of dyslexia – the disability causing difficulties in reading, speech and spelling and affecting 5 to 10% of us.

Dyspraxia, on the other hand (not a misspelling of dyslexia) is another common learning difficulty, which has just not had the press, despite research showing up to 10% of the population may suffer from it.

Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) Rowan Kirby believes “dyspraxia is the poorer brother of dyslexia,” something she hopes will change as more people begin to understand it…

Dyspraxia is an impairment or immaturity of the organisation of movement – an immaturity in the way the brain processes information, causing messages not to be properly or fully transmitted.

The common denominator with the disability is a weakness of certain motor skills, for example, anything related to movement, whether it be through fine motor control – holding a pen, writing, brushing teeth and getting dressed; gross motor control – running around, kicking or catching a ball; or control of balance – sitting on a chair, or climbing the stairs.

Various labels have included Clumsy Child Syndrome, Minimal Brain Damage, Developmental Co-ordination Disorder (DCD) and Motor Learning Disability.

GP Dr Amanda Kirby who provides training for occupational psychologists on dyspraxia and has a son with the condition calls it, The Hidden Handicap, as although someone with dyspraxia may look “normal”, they will have underlying problems that may affect their life.

Mild dyspraxia can be difficult to spot, particularly if it’s the parents’ first child and there are no other siblings for comparison. Only later, perhaps at school, do the differences become apparent.

Other symptoms can include difficulties with reading, concentration, coordination, short-term memory, organisation, social skills, speech and sensitivity to light, sound, taste and touch. This may be a heightened sensitivity or a lack of it, or both.

Not only are these characteristics hugely variable but often dyspraxia exists with other conditions such as dyslexia, ADHD, dyscalculia, speech and language impairment and autistic spectrum disorders such as Asperger’s syndrome, which can make a diagnosis confusing.

Dr Kirby says: “Parents often go from place to place only to be left asking ‘what has my child got?’ One person said dyspraxia, another dyslexia and someone else ADHD.” It may be that the child is diagnosed with the most dominant symptom at that time but as different symptoms emerge, so the diagnosis changes.

Children with mild to moderate symptoms may not be diagnosed at all, but simply written off as clumsy, lazy or stupid by their teachers and peers but, as with Dyslexia, Dyspraxia has no relevance to IQ whatsoever.

Occupational therapist, Jane Horwood, explains. “These are neurological in-built developmental difficulties and schools need to understand this. There are still people that don’t believe dyspraxia exists.

They think it’s the child not trying, or intentionally winding up their teachers.” For a worried parent, a diagnosis can be an enormous relief as they realise it’s not their fault and their child is not acting up.

A common problem with dyspraxia is poor concentration and the inability to focus for very long, especially when there are other distractions like background noise or copying from a board while concentrating on holding and using a pen, balancing on a chair and taking in what the teacher’s saying.

Phew! For most of us, multitasking like this isn’t too demanding but for a dyspraxic child it is very difficult, exhausting, stressful and physically uncomfortable.

Sarah Ailsby, nanny to a dyspraxic child and a learning support teacher says, “you want as little distraction around them as possible.

Avoid sitting them near a window and if you have to work on a blackboard give them a crib sheet, so they’re not having to lift their head to memorise something, then looking down to concentrate on writing and probably forgetting it. Ask, whether they really need to sit down. Can they not stand?”

Read the remainder of this article on the First Eleven website: Welcome to the world of dyspraxia

OR the YUDU version on Pgs 34-35 of the First Eleven's magazine: 

Dyslexia and Co-occuring Conditions: Presentation

Dyslexia Action Training and Professional Development Presentation on Dyslexia and Co-occurring difficulties.

In this webinar, Glenys Heap, Dyslexia Action's Director of CPD discussed the key issues related to learning difficulties frequently co-occurring with dyslexia such as dyspraxia, ADHD, etc

Bamboo Fun a computer aid for Dyspraxia

Bamboo Fun - Go to the site and run the video

Overview
Bamboo Fun combines the benefits of Multi-Touch with the comfort and precision of Wacom's ergonomically-designed pen. The result: a powerful new way to work with your computer.

With Multi-Touch, you use simple hand gestures and finger taps on the tablet's surface. And because the active area is larger than traditional mobile devices and laptop trackpads, it's more comfortable and natural to use.

Easily move around your desktop, scroll through documents, navigate the web, zoom in and out of photos, and rotate images.

Need precision? Pick up the pressure-sensitive pen to edit photos, create personal greetings, make sketches, and mark up documents in your own handwriting.

Using Bamboo is easy—even if you're new to the touch experience. The included tutorial will teach you how to use simple hand gestures to move around your desktop, make selections, and complete other tasks on your computer.

You can even customise your Bamboo experience by assigning your own shortcuts to the four ExpressKeys™.

Bamboo works with your existing computer: desktop or laptop, PC or Mac. And, the distributor claims that it's incredible value with the included software: Adobe® Photoshop® Elements and Nik® Color Efex Pro™.

Sleek and black, the tablet makes for a stylish addition to your workspace but is not an ornament, it's supposed to be a tool.

You can attach Bamboo to any PC, Laptop or Mac, via a standard USB port, set it comfortably by your keyboard, and let your intuition guide you.

We are not endorsing this product and have no connection with the producer of it, it is simply here for information and for you to decide if it is useful to you or not.

Magical Motivation for Manual Dexterity and Dyspraxia

It's often hard to motivate youngsters to exercise, especially if they have dyspraxia or more serious physical disabilities.

A new approach from a Tel Aviv University researcher is working to bridge the worlds of behaviour and science to help kids with dyspraxia and motor dysfunction conditions.

The research team are working to improve the physical skills and inner confidence of youngsters by using a trick they like to keep up her sleeve. It's called "magic" or more accurately, conjuring tricks.

Dr Dido Green of Tel Aviv University's School of Health Professionals developed an innovative yet remarkably simple series of therapeutic exercises for children and young adults based on sleight-of-hand tricks used by professional magicians.

Dr. Green and her magicians used sponge balls, elastics and paper clips to teach the children how to perform challenging, fun and engaging exercises.

Making physical therapy fun
"Children with dyspraxia, or more serious motor disorders like hemiplegia, perform routine exercises with their hands and wrists to be able to carry out basic functions such as opening a door, doing up their zipper, or closing buttons," explains Dr. Green.

She is an occupational therapist with a masters degree in clinical neuroscience and a Ph.D. in psychomotor development of children. "Not only did the kids get a kick out of the magic tricks, they loved doing the exercises every day."

Magic Camps
Dr. Green hopes to create summer "magic camps" for disabled children in both the U.K. and Israel, and will further investigate the benefits of magic for improving motor development skills in children with more severe disabilities.

Her initial research, now in the process of publication looked at a sample of nine children. "We had a hunch that learning magic tricks could do wonders for kids' movement problems, but we wanted to see if the kids would actually practice them," says Dr. Green.

She needn't have worried. It was a big success!

The children practiced ten minutes a day over four to six weeks, resulting in a significant and measurable change in their motor skills. "It was a big enough effect to make us want to develop further the concept of using magic or conjuring tricks to improve motor learning," says Dr. Green.

Further research
American Friends of Tel Aviv University (www.aftau.org) supports Israel's leading and most comprehensive center of higher learning. In independent rankings, TAU's innovations and discoveries are cited more often by the global scientific community than all but 20 other universities worldwide

Dyspraxia: Work with Your Child's Teacher to Identify and Address Math Disabilities

Mathematics disabilities are identified through a variety of procedures. Usually the classroom teacher or parent observes that the child is having persistent difficulty learning mathematics and tends to perform poorly on classroom math assessments compared to the rest of the class. For example, the child may have trouble remembering what the teacher has taught or she may have difficulty using effective strategies to solve math problems.

By observing and working directly with a child over time, the teacher can determine if her difficulty learning mathematics is persistent. Unfortunately, mathematics disabilities are usually not identified until the upper elementary school years because early problems often go undetected and assessment results may not be sensitive enough to detect a problem until the later grades.

Information about the child's performance can be gathered in several ways. Weekly tests, homework, and class work samples are examples of information the teacher can collect about the child's progress learning the mathematics curriculum. The teacher may adapt how instruction is provided to accommodate a child's learning needs and then note how the child responds to those adaptations.

The teacher may also seek assistance from a specialist or school support team who can offer additional ideas about how to adapt instruction for the child who is struggling to learn the curriculum. The teacher may also consult with the child's parents to understand how the child is doing on math homework. All of this information helps the teacher and school support team develop a profile of the child's learning difficulties and her response to instruction and adaptations.